Gold Star Families Protest At Bush Commencement Speech [View All]

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http://www.commondreams.org/news2007/0511-02.htm

Gold Star Families Protest At Bush Commencement Speech
Mothers of Fallen Iraq Vets Reflect on another Mother’s Day without their Children


LATROBE, PA - May 11 - Members of Military Families Speak Out (MFSO), including several Gold Star Mothers who are members of MFSO’s chapter Gold Star Families Speak Out, will protest outside President Bush’s commencement speech at Saint Vincent’s College today. Military Families Speak Out is an organization of almost 3,500 military families opposed to the war in Iraq; its chapter Gold Star Families Speak Out includes over 100 families whose loved ones died as a result of the war in Iraq.

“We are here to say to George Bush: Enough death, enough pain! We are only a few of the thousands in this country who cry every day for loved ones we can only hold in our hearts, and never again in our arms,” said Diane Santoriello of Verona, PA whose son 1st Lt. Neal Santoriello was killed near Fallujah, Iraq on August 13, 2004 at the age of 24. “Mother’s Day carries with it a special pain for us that no other mother should ever have to experience.”

Sue Niederer of Pennington, NJ, whose son 2nd Lt. Seth Dvorin was killed near Iskandariyah, Iraq on February 3, 2004, added, “This is my fourth Mother's Day with out my son. He lost his life in a war based on lies, a war that should never have happened. George Bush should not be here today as the commencement speaker, doling out advice to these young graduates, when it was his faulty decisions that resulted in the needless deaths of so many young people.”

“Each day that this immoral war continues, over three U.S. troops and countless Iraqi children, women and men die,” said Celeste Zappala of Philadelphia, PA, whose son, Sgt. Sherwood Baker, age 30, was killed in Baghdad on April 26, 2004. He was the first Pennsylvania National Guardsman to die in combat since World War II. “We are here to condemn this president for the damage he has done – and continues to do; and we call on Congress to deny President Bush any further funds to continue this war, and to fully fund the safe and orderly withdrawal of our troops from Iraq and the care they need when they get home.”

For more information about Military Families Speak Out, please visit: http://www.mfso.org

For more information about Gold Star Families Speak Out, please visit http://www.gsfso.or